Sunday, February 17

We woke up completely refreshed and sat in bed talking for an hour or so. Eventually we got up and had brunch.

I went outside and chopped up some of the ice on the pavements, to clear them. The sun beat down and I had an ideal opportunity to make some of the paving visible again; particularly, the strip leading from the front door to the road.

In the early afternoon, to complete our Indian weekend we drove to Arabianranta to participate in a celebration of Onam, the largest festival in Kerala. The Finnish Malayalee Association had organised this celebration, with the Indian Embassy.

We parked outside the iittala showrooms, and then slithered back across the icy pavements and tried to climb the little hill to the entrance of Kaffila Bokvillan. I found it almost impossible to get any purchase on the ground at all and started sliding backwards. Eventually I waded through the piles of snow.

I watch three small girls making a pookkalam, and then remaking it, and then remaking it, because they cannot bear to stop. I photograph it at several stages during its perpetual rebuilding.

We will watch a video, listen to singing, watch a dance, and then see King Mahabali arrive. He will lead some games to much hilarity, and finally we will eat some Keralan specialities.

We will drive to Kamppi to see Mummi who has a mysterious dialog box appearing in English in her netbank. It will, of course, not appear when I get there to look at it.

We will then drive to see Marja who appears lively, and sparkling in an amused kind of way. She and Irma will book massages while we sit there, and we will talk about our weekend of Indian adventures.

Finally we will stop at Prisma on the way home to get the vegetables we forgot to buy on Friday evening.